Milo

November 29th

The absoluteness of Jesus Christ

He shall glorify Me. John 16:14.

The pietistic movements of to-day have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament about them; there is nothing about them that needs the death of Jesus Christ, all that is required is a pious atmosphere, and prayer and devotion. This type of experience is not supernatural nor miraculous, it did not cost the passion of God, it is not dyed in the blood of the Lamb, not stamped with the hall-mark of the Holy Ghost. It has not that mark on it which makes men say, as they look with awe and wonder—‘That is the work of God Almighty.’ That and nothing else is what the New Testament talks about.
The type of Christian experience in the New Testament is that of personal, passionate devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ. Every other type of Christian experience, so called, is detached from the Person of Jesus. There is no regeneration, no being born again into the Kingdom in which Christ lives, but only the idea that He is our Pattern. In the New Testament Jesus Christ is Saviour long before He is Pattern. To-day He is being despatched as the Figurehead of a religion, a mere Example. He is that, but He is infinitely more; He is salvation itself. He is the Gospel of God.
Jesus said—“When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, … He shall glorify Me.” When I commit myself to the revelation made in the New Testament, I receive from God the gift of the Holy Spirit Who begins to interpret to me what Jesus did, and does in me subjectively what Jesus Christ did for me objectively.

November 29

“Nevertheless afterward.” (Heb. 12:11.)

THERE is a legend that tells of a German baron who, at his castle on the Rhine, stretched wires from tower to tower, that the winds might convert them into an Aeolian harp. And the soft breezes played about the castle, but no music was born.
But one night there arose a great tempest, and hill and castle were smitten by the fury of the mighty winds. The baron went to the threshold to look out upon the terror of the storm, and the Aeolian harp was filling the air with strains that rang out even above the clamor of the tempest. It needed the tempest to bring out the music!
And have we not known men whose lives have not given out any entrancing music in the day of a calm prosperity, but who, when the tempest drove against them have astonished their fellows by the power and strength of their music?

  Rain, rain
Beating against the pane!
How endlessly it pours
  Out of doors
From the blackened sky—
  I wonder why!

  Flowers, flowers,
Upspringing after showers,
Blossoming fresh and fair,
  Everywhere!
Ah, God has explained
  Why it rained!”

You can always count on God to make the “afterward” of difficulties, if rightly overcome, a thousand times richer and fairer than the forward. “No chastening … seemeth joyous, … nevertheless afterward …” What a yield!

29 NOVEMBER (PREACHED CHRISTMAS MORNING 1769)

Till Shiloh come

‘The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.’ Genesis 49:10–12
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Genesis 49:8–12

Among Jacob’s dying words, the prophecy concerning Judah is the most eminent. The victories and the blessings of this tribe, as well as its perpetuity, are all applicable to the person here spoken of—who is the Messiah, the Lord Christ. The land of Judah was to be, and so it proved, fruitful in wine and milk, under which emblems the abundance of gospel blessings is set forth by the prophet Isaiah in chapter 55 [verse 1]. The time of his [Messiah’s] appearance is marked out by the Sceptre, or, as the word signifies, the tribeship. Judah was a distinct tribe and had the government—till he appeared. Then, or very soon after, they were destroyed out of their land, and their genealogies were lost, so that none of the Jews at present or for many ages past, have been able to prove their descent from any particular tribe.

To him shall the gathering of the people be. This clause is expounded by John’s exposition of what Caiaphas unwittingly delivered (John 11:52 [And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad]). The people whom God had chosen for himself were not confined to the Jewish nation but dispersed; by the preaching of the gospel revealing his love, they should be called out of ignorance. Note he is the desire of all nations. Some of all people and languages, when they hear of him and feel their need of a Saviour, shall be enabled to look to him and put their trust in his name, renouncing every other (see Isaiah 45:14). Note also the efficacy of his love and grace: they shall not be overlooked or disappointed. Whatever difficulties are in the way, they shall be surely gathered unto him, and not one of them lost.

FOR MEDITATION: ‘And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof’ (Revelation 5:5).

SERMON: GENESIS 49:10–12 [2/3] [ALSO PREACHED CHRISTMAS 1780]

November 28th

The bounty of the destitute

Being justified freely by His grace … Romans 3:24.

The Gospel of the grace of God awakens an intense longing in human souls and an equally intense resentment, because the revelation which it brings is not palatable. There is a certain pride in man that will give and give, but to come and accept is another thing. I will give my life to martyrdom, I will give myself in consecration, I will do anything, but do not humiliate me to the level of the most hell-deserving sinner and tell me that all I have to do is to accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
We have to realize that we cannot earn or win anything from God; we must either receive it as a gift or do without it. The greatest blessing spiritually is the knowledge that we are destitute; until we get there Our Lord is powerless. He can do nothing for us if we think we are sufficient of ourselves; we have to enter into His Kingdom through the door of destitution. As long as we are rich, possessed of anything in the way of pride or independence, God cannot do anything for us. It is only when we get hungry spiritually that we receive the Holy Spirit. The gift of the nature of God is made effectual in us by the Holy Spirit; He imparts to us the quickening life of Jesus, which puts ‘the beyond’ within, and immediately the beyond has come within, it rises up to ‘the above,’ and we are lifted into the domain where Jesus lives. (John 3:5.)

November 28

“Thou makest the outgoing of the morning and evening to rejoice.” (Psa. 65:8.)

GET up early and go to the mountain and watch God make a morning. The dull gray will give way as God Pushes the sun towards the horizon, and there will be tints and hues of every shade, that will blend into one perfect light as the full-orbed sun bursts into view. As the King of day moves forth majestically, flooding the earth and every lowly vale, listen to the music of heaven’s choir as it sings of the majesty of God and the glory of the morning.”

In the holy hush of the early dawn
I hear a Voice—
“I am with you all the day,
Rejoice! Rejoice!”
The clear, pure light of the morning made me long for the truth in my heart, which alone could make me pure and clear as the morning, tune me up to the concert-pitch of the nature around me. And the wind that blew from the sunrise made me hope in the God who had first breathed into my nostrils the breath of life; that He would at length so fill me with His breath, His mind, His Spirit, that I should think only His thoughts, and live His life, finding therein my own life, only glorified infinitely. What should we poor humans do without our God’s nights and mornings?—George MacDonald.

“In the early morning hours,
’Twixt the night and day,
While from earth the darkness passes
Silently away;

“Then ’tis sweet to talk with Jesus
In thy chamber still—
For the coming day and duties
Ask to know His will.

“Then He’ll lead the way before you,
Mountains laying low;
Making desert places blossom,
Sweet’ning Marah’s flow.

“Would you know this life of triumph,
Victory all the way?
Then put God in the beginning
Of each coming day.”